"I can't imagine myself getting back and starting in the eleven. My mindset has got to be get myself ready mentally, physically and everything else because I might be needed for 10 or 20 minutes at a late stage of the season. Who knows? It could be the last game of the season at Sunderland. I might have built up enough, whether playing in a Reserves game or two, and then that's fine," he told MUTV's Inside Carrington programme.

"But I think the immediate thing is to get myself mentally ready, just in case the manager says: 'I'll put you on the bench' or whatever and I'll come on for 15 minutes and try to nick a goal if we're struggling."